ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Thursday evening will mark an important day for KMOX's own Fred Bodimer.
Regular KMOX listeners will know about Bodimer. Bodimer has been a voice of calm and authority at KMOX since he first joined the station in 1982. He's been the station's editor on the important health and religion beats for decades and has executive produced countless talk shows, election night specials, and covered major St. Louis moments like Pope John Paul II visiting St. Louis 25 years ago.
On Thursday night, Fred will become a Hall of Famer as he will be inducted into the St. Louis Media Hall of Fame at The Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries.
Bodimer will be a part of 11-person cohort, which also includes KMOX alum Joe Buck, plus Clay Felker, Jessica Brown, Ed Scarborough, Dave Nicklaus and Jim Gallagher of the St Louis Post-Dispatch, public radio's Linda Lockhart, Judy Newmark, Tim Arnold, and Jim Palumbo.
Bodimer joined KMOX's Total Information A.M. Wednesday to preview his induction and he discussed his over four decade tenure at the Voice of St. Louis, complimenting his willingness to be so versatile as why he has stayed at the station and radio for so long.
"There's so much that I do that I don't get bored with any of it. I can just hit and go do a whole bunch of things and every day it's something new," said Bodimer on Total Information A.M. "What I love the most about radio is its immediacy. You get a story, you need something that you want to tell listeners, you can get it right out there. So I enjoy that. I enjoy sharing different stories, setting up everyone else that I work with at KMOX and KFTK to get information out to the listeners."
Bodimer discussed the changing landscape of the radio business, remembering that when he started working at KMOX, computers and the internet weren't a part of newsroom and society yet. Bodimer credits the change and technological advancements in society for his ability to adapt and evolve with society.
"When I first started here, it was just typewriters. We would have carbon paper and we would type our news stories with like three pieces of carbon paper and we'd have three copies of the story." said Bodimer. "There was no internet, so we subscribed to maybe 20 newspapers from around the country and every day I'd go through them and clip things out of the newspapers. If I wanted to get a guest in another city I'd have to call information in that city and try and find a phone number for them."
Throughout the 42 years at KMOX, Bodimer has seen the highs and lows of St. Louis, But Bodimer doesn't regret any minute experiencing the rollercoaster journey and credits the listeners for keeping him at the station for so long.
"It's been worth every day of the 42 years I've been here. There's not a day that I regret being here. There's not a day that I didn't wanna come in and the listeners have a lot to do with it," said Bodimer. "Whenever I go somewhere, people can recognize my voice. Once they know who I am, they've got tons of questions about KMOX and all the truly legendary people that I worked with down through the years, like Bob Hardy, Ann Keefe, Jim White, John McCormick, Carol Daniel, and Charlie Brennan. Just everybody asked me about the people that I work with and that makes it fun because I feel like what I do is appreciated by the listeners."
